Titus Groan

Volume 1 of the Gormenghast Trilogy

By: Mervyn Peake

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

In Volume 1 of the classic Gormenghast Trilogy, a doomed lord, an emergent hero, and an array of bizarre creatures haunt the world of Gormenghast Castle. This trilogy, along with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, reigns as one of the undisputed fantasy classics of all time. At the center of everything is the 77th Earl, Titus Groan, who stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom.

In this first volume, the Gormenghast Castle, and the noble family who inhabits it, are introduced, along with the infant firstborn son of the Lord and Countess. Titus Groan is sent away to be raised by a wet nurse, with only a gold ring from his mother, and ordered to not be brought back until the age of six. By his christening, he learns from his much older sisters that epileptic fits are "common at his age." He also learns that they don't like his mother. And then, he is crowned, and called, "Child-inheritor of the rivers, of the Tower of Flints and the dark recesses beneath cold stairways and the sunny summer lawns. Child-inheritor of the spring breeze that blow in from the jarl forests and of the autumn misery in petal, scale, and wing. Winter's white brilliance on a thousand turrets and summer's torpor among walls that crumble..."

In these extraordinary novels, Peake has created a world where all is like a dream - lush, fantastical, vivid; a symbol of dark struggle.

©1967 Mervyn Peake (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience." (C.S. Lewis)

It's a classic

This book, to me, is a classic; a work of genius. I read the whole trilogy in my college years and decided to listen to Vol 1 a few months ago. It made an impression on me the first time and I was not disappointed this time. The contrast between the grimness of the world that Mervyn Peake has created and the lushness of the imagery and language with which he describes it make it unique. The denizens of this weird world have the most wonderful names. How can you not revel in characters whose names are Flay, Steerpike, Prunesquallor, and Swelter? Not to mention Groan. Simon Vance enhances the experience by bringing both the characters and the text to vibrant life. Ordinarily a world so ugly, claustrophobic, and grim would not be my cup of tea, but yet again I found it irresistible.

One of the best performances I have heard

Simon Vance did an excellent job. This is not an easy book to read yet his voice, his pace, his tone made it justice. It is mesmerizing, both the story and the narration are excellent.

Very very :)

VERY slow in the start and along the way. It takes four hours to properly introduce everyone in the castle. BUT, if you're not in a hurry AND you like the unusual: this is one of those. Very well written, very thickly textured, very strange characters... and very surreal. A slow paced dip into a dream (world). A medieval circus of royal sorts. Nice.

The best English you ever heard or read.

What made the experience of listening to Titus Groan the most enjoyable?

The wordsmithing of Mervyn Peak can turn a fly dying in a jar into literary art.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Fuschia - She is the most normal.

Which character – as performed by Simon Vance – was your favorite?

Dr. Prunesqaullor. Simon Vance makes him both frustrating and endearing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sure.

Any additional comments?

The single best guide on how to write.

Beautifully written & performed.

I don’t know if there’s a better wordsmith in the fantasy genre than Peake. Just the way things are worded in this novel can leave you spellbound.
Not a lot happens in the story, but it is still engaging. The performance is also top notch.
Well worth a listen!

Story plus it’s narrator

Absolutely fantastic! The best of the best.
Read with authority and complete understanding of the authors words.
Both book and narrator must not be missed.

Thanks to M Peake for this wonderful story and thanks to Simon Vance for the pleasure given with his voice as he narrates.

Barbara

Superb

I read the Gormenghast triology about a year ago and was delighted to find it in unabridged format on Audible.
The narrator, Robert Whitfield, is one of the best I've heard on Audible (excellent in Don Quixote). If you are a Mervyn Peake fan, you won't find a better download than this.

Welcome to Gormenghast

I’d often heard Mervyn Peake compared to J. R. R. Tolkien and his Gormenghast Trilogy compared to Lord of the Rings. That comparison works in that both are elaborate fantasy epics written with stunningly beautiful prose. However, that’s really where the comparisons end. Mr. Peake’s story is far more melancholic than anything found in Middle Earth, his outlook on life far more myopic, and his characters far stranger despite all being completely human.

Essentially, this is the story of Gormenghast Castle, a huge gothic labyrinth making up its own cloistered world, and the lives of its inhabitants. I won’t bother describing the plot further than that, because this is more the sort of story you have to experience for yourself. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t put it down.

Also, Simon Vance is absolutely perfect for this novel. Vance already earned his place as one of my favorite narrators from other fantasy books on Audible, but here in particular his voice illuminates Peake’s gorgeous prose. What more can I say? Beyond highly recommended!

The absurd can be amusing, but...

Wildly descriptive language, but uniformly absurd to the point of monotony. The characters aren’t very likable; I don’t think the author liked these characters very much. I wanted to like the story, but I found it rather tedious. Narrator does a great job.

A Brand New Sound

TItus Groan is exquisitely written. Its language is rich and thorough, hovering over the smallest detail or action until it has been rendered as a perfect image in the mind. The characters are vivid, with each person's name perfectly capturing both their role in the endlessly sprawling and decrepit castle of Gormenghast but also in the story. Swelter. Flay. Steerpike. Prunesquallor. They all speak in circles, in riddles, in labyrinths that match the senselessly wending halls of the castle in which they are trapped. They have become so indentured to their daily ceremony that they can no longer relate to other people. Beyond the walls the girl Keda tries to find and understand love for all things, but even outside of Gormenghast there are deadly mazes. This is an absolute classic and I can't wait to continue the series.